Message from the President - CNSA secures grant funding

CNSA has recently been awarded nearly $1 million in Cancer Patient Support Program grant funding from the Australian Government

I am thrilled to share some exciting news with you - CNSA has recently been awarded nearly $1 million in grant funding from the Australian Government. This is part of the $16.5 million committed to the Cancer Patient Support Program, a component of the Australian Cancer Nursing and Navigation Program. The aim is to provide better outcomes for people affected by cancer and increase equity across tumour types.

This funding is a testament to the vital role cancer nurses play in delivering high-quality care and our commitment to ensuring they have access to the best education and professional development opportunities, and complements the work we are currently undertaking in partnership with Flinders University and our Education Standing Committee to revise and redevelop the comprehensive framework for Australian Cancer Nurses within the contemporary cancer landscape.

We know that navigating the wide range of professional development and education opportunities and understanding how they fit into a career pathway can be complex - especially for time-poor nurses juggling demanding workloads. With education available from multiple providers across different formats, we often spend valuable time searching for the right learning opportunities. While there is a wealth of knowledge out there, there’s currently no single place to easily find, compare, and access education that aligns with specific career goals and practice areas.

This project will change that. We are building an intuitive, publicly accessible Education Portal - a one-stop destination where cancer nurses can quickly and easily search for education that aligns with their learning needs, workplace setting, level of expertise, career stage, and area of practice.

This program will:

Audit and map cancer-specific nursing education across all providers and formats in Australia

Develop a comprehensive, searchable education database

Build an online education portal to search and access links to external education aligned to specific cancer nursing career pathways.

Undertake a gap analysis to identify unmet educational needs of cancer nurses in Australia.

Create rapid-learning modules to meet specific identified gaps in the educational needs of cancer nurses.

We will soon invite stakeholders - including education providers, health services, government agencies, professional bodies, universities and cancer care organisations - to contribute to our national scoping review. The input from these stakeholders will directly inform the design of the Education Portal and help ensure it reflects the current landscape, avoids duplication, and addresses real-world needs. To find out more about how your organisation can get involved, click here.

We are incredibly proud to secure this funding and excited to deliver these resources over the next two years to support and strengthen the cancer nursing workforce. We look forward to keeping you updated as this important work progresses.

Kind regards,

Anne Mellon
CNSA President